All the torments of the Meloni government, indeed of Italy
The old-new and forward-backward juxtapositions determine sprawling and slowed down movements of an Italy historically incapable of pandering to the times without undergoing them but without even trying senselessly to hinder them. The italics of Battista Falconi
The social dynamics from the historical point of view can be described, with a certain reliable approximation, as: a first period of long opposition of the "up against the bottom", i.e. of the more affluent classes, holders of rights, arbitrators, abuses, privileges and wealth that coerced the lower ones; then a period of "right against left", in which these requests were transformed into transversal political projects, so that even in the left, champion of the workers and the poor, there were and are very often apartments in the upper middle class style, while on the right the social and liberal issues mix in sometimes contradictory ways, just think of the experience of fascism which was born socialist and republican, then became a monarchist and friend of the big bosses during the regime to return, in the CSR phase, to the original sepulchral impulses.
If today we had to define on which space-time axis the great oppositions take shape, we would certainly have to use that of "forward against backward": most of the major problems that see opposing, sometimes irreducible ideologies and political positions confront each other, fall within this new dynamic. Let's take some random examples.
In the EU, European and global dimension, much is played on the ability to grasp the contingencies that the institutions try to transform into opportunities, including normative ones, to impart development to economies and societies. The PNRR is proof of this and at the moment is receiving more attention: Italy, in particular but not only, seems to be suffering from delays due to widespread incapacity – of the last three executives at the top level but then of local administrations, of companies, of all stakeholders – to quickly manage planning, implementation and reporting processes of particular commitment and importance. The passing of the buck in progress demonstrates how much we have a management, leadership and bureaucracy problem.
We then look at the social security dynamics. We live in societies that are often aged, burdened by unsustainable pension burdens of which, moreover, according to a figure published by Il Sole-24 ore , 46% have welfare purposes. This refers us to the policy of basic income and social support also given to young people, who are pulled by the jacket as idlers or unused resources: it is quite probable that both things are true. The fact is that the sentences of the Minister of Agriculture about going back to work in the fields instead of lying on the sofa, to take up Michele Serra's metaphor, say a lot about the belief that there is a real country incapable of taking its destiny into its own hands and which points to the search for subsidies to get by with minimal effort. A country that does not invest in the future, which has no faith, courage or imagination, as evidenced by the entrepreneurs of the Northeast who have been divided in recent days between the regional elections of Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Vinitaly, where the presence of politicians was envious to Bruno Vespa.
A reality and a rhetoric that are opposed to those who instead see in the squares and in their noisy minorities the pulse of a country engaged against an indifferent, incapable political caste. At the moment the Italian mobilizations are quite peripheral, while the international ones appear very vital: the French and the Spanish have mobilized precisely on the issue of pensions but the Israeli one has also gone, like the other two, in the sign of not changing. Let's stick to the past-present. In Italy Maurizio Landini is probably the most effective movement promoter at the moment, certainly more than all opposition leaders, including Elly Schlein. However, as Vittorio Macioce recently observed, this must worry everyone, including the majority, because the lack of an energetic, robust and naturally correct dynamic between those who govern and those who oppose it determines – as we have also seen in the case of the highly esteemed Draghi government – democratic pathologies.
The opposition past-present-future, static-dynamic, forward-still-backward determines disorganized, unpredictable movements when people are asked to decide. Thus successful leaders lose consensus, such as Sanna Marin in Finland, about whom Marco Travaglio sarcastically spread. Figures that are popular for a certain period are quickly abandoned. Moreover, the defeat of the former Finnish prime minister says a lot, also to return to the problem of the welfare state, typical of the "old against new", on how much even in states where the welfare system works better, popular consensus tends to move in different directions.
One element on which the government and the current majority seem to keep their heads turned back towards the past is that of identity. On the linguistic level, just think of Fabio Rampelli's proposal, actually inspired by a law already in force in France, to ban foreignisms in the official language of the public administration, complete with sanctions.
The contradiction that there is then a government in charge with a Made in Italy ministry is evident and has been raised several times, with sarcasm. But the regulations and positions taken in the agri-food sector also respond to the same logic: on insect flours, on the labeling of wines required by Ireland and on the so-called synthetic meat (with GMOs as silent protagonists). Beyond the specific issues, it seems to deduce a sort of defense of the so-called "food sovereignty", as the official name of the ministry indicates.
However, what clashes is the lack of a clear plan not only at the Italian level but also at the Community and global level, which seeks to distinguish the destinies of two worlds that are still too distant, even at the table: that of those who have to reverse technologies of any kind to lower the costs and environmental impacts of agri-food production, to allow the worryingly growing masses of people to eat better and better with ever lower direct and indirect costs; and the smaller share of the world which, being able to afford the choice of quality, has the right and the duty to protect its qualitative traditions.
Again, the juxtaposition of old and new, forward or backward, determines disorganized and slowed down movements. The far from simple undertaking of facing globality as a whole, deriving a meaning from it and trying to direct oneself towards mediation paths cannot be achieved.
Then there are all the other events that see Italy in a position of substantial friction with Europe: renewable sources, alternative energy, nuclear (indicative of Cottarelli's perplexity on the Five Stars: "I'm staying for now"), hydrogen, biofuels , synthetic petrol, green houses, energy efficiency. Basically, Europe indicates the so-called sustainable, compatible, green progress which, in the name of a higher need to protect our planet from climate change, actually seems to affirm an ecological ideology which sometimes refers to presuppositions of a religious nature, rather than biological. As far as the European Union is concerned, on the sidelines, Alessandro Sallusti must be right in any case, according to which the disputes deriving from the concern of Brussels and Strasbourg for the probable alliance between the popular and conservatives could put the socialists out of the game.
And then of course the migratory flows which appear substantially unstoppable. We are faced with hundreds of millions of people about to leave and it has been so for decades, with ever greater intensity. If a Martian were to observe us, he would be dismayed to see how we fail to tackle this problem, certainly not easy to solve, in a structural way, that is by using what all the positions in the field require: investments in the lands of origin to improve the conditions of the populations which their misfortune there are residents; control and contrast of illegal flows; common management of intra-European movements; rescue, assistance and welcome to those who arrive so that they can live in dignity.
But perhaps the theme that in Italy makes clear the extent to which there is a problem of incapacity to accommodate the times, without undergoing them passively but without even trying senselessly to hinder them, is the historical one. Our clocks still seem stuck with the hands on the years of fascism and the resistance, topics always treated with such a vis polemic that we have recently witnessed objectively unhappy sentences on via Rasella and on the retaliation of the Fosse Ardeatine, from the right, but also to the decomposed and stereotyped reactions of many left-wing exponents not only at the party level but, unfortunately, also at the historiographical level. This part of our recent history confirms the insufficiency of intellectuals in providing public opinion, in a balanced measure, with elements of reasonable certainty and reasonable doubt, the two inextricable components of any knowledge.
The theme will become very hot in the next few days because from 23 to 25 April we will certainly have a continuous "three days", already announced by Mayor Gualtieri in Rome, on the theme of founding anti-fascism of the Republic. And then on May 1, with the labor day concert, he will unleash the usual progressive speaker corner. The national association of Italian partisans has already let it be known that the presence of Ignazio La Russa will not be welcome on April 25, while the Prime Minister has let it be known that, obviously, he will be at the altar of the homeland with the President of the Republic and with the other main constitutional offices, among which therefore the president of the Senate cannot be missing.
Current news events produce a background noise, made up of debates and interviews, which we may not be interested in and which leaves no permanent trace in reality. A clamor in which the alarmist cries are mixed up and a few hints of moderation can hardly be distinguished, such as those launched in recent days by Luciano Violante, by the former president of the Senate Marcello Pera, but also suggestions such as those of Piergiorgio Odifreddi, who perhaps involuntarily gave a good idea of how many retrograde instances invalidate the progressive design of our secular rationalists (just think of Slow Food). In the hubbub emerges the rebound of accusations of exploiting marginal events as distracting weapons in order not to focus on the real problems, that is, on reality.
In this context, it would be desirable for realism to be affirmed as its own value by the right-wing government, at least on a par with other shared principles such as the national interest. To do this, let's think about what happened in recent years with the earthquakes in Abruzzo and Central Italy, the duration of construction sites, the so-called major interrupted works. And on the other hand to bioethics and ethics that are expressed in the demands on homosexual families, extended, varied, in particular that of having children which clearly denotes how children have become, or remained, property . Because here too, quite simply, technology goes on regardless of our thinking about it and allows us to do things that weren't possible before. A total hiatus, we discuss whether to allow things to be done and not what is not done even if it is necessary. And therefore the Messina Bridge is no longer a real object but an Italian myth and specter, between Mediterranean grandeur and cathedral in the desert.
But reality, the real one or at least that appears to be so, is precisely much more dynamic and faster than the observers, especially progressives, who try hard and ex post to define it. This is the reason why every regulation, every administrative system, every theoretical elaboration and every practical implementation are late and insufficient compared to the things that simply happen. And that we don't chase. Just think of the data highlighted in recent days by Laura Sabbadini of the overcoming of lay women by practicing Catholics who still go to Mass and bring their children to catechism, which represents the interruption of a fundamental transmission of values, of a way of life, beyond and before religious convictions in the strict sense. But also to the decision of the Privacy Guarantor to "prohibit" ChatGpt on which a heated and vague debate has now been unleashed: an issue, that of artificial intelligence, on which it is really difficult to define a balanced position that allows to grasp the progress and all possible benefits, considering at the same time that the data market is truly becoming the central business of modernity.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/tutti-i-tormenti-del-governo-meloni-anzi-dellitalia/ on Wed, 05 Apr 2023 11:06:06 +0000.